"Reducing Anxiety: My Experiment with Going Offline"

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“Reducing Anxiety: My Experiment with Going Offline”

Last week I admitted to being anxious, yep me. “Reducing Anxiety: My Experiment with Going Offline” It was hard to say out loud, but the truth is that being on the computer all day and being social on social platforms on the internet has me wound up in a tight ball. I don’t like it. I don’t like it one bit.

I’m a mindfulness teacher. A meditation teacher, a hypnotherapist. A fricking DNA enthusiast who supports women in coming home to themselves, I’m not about being online all day. NO. My body aches from it; my mind becomes like sludge, and my personality goes dark. It’s really NOT good.

But what I’ve been told is that I must be on, I must be social, I must make reels! I have to create email newsletters, and I have to keep reminding my “list” that I am here to support them, or my business will dry up and die! I’m told I won’t have clients; the algorithm won’t find me… and on and on and on; it’s crazy, yet I stay.

It’s not a good place to live, so I’ve decided to go offline for the month of November. Yep, 30 days without social, without blasting, without email craziness. Over on The Now What Society Podcast, Tamar and I discuss what I have done to set myself up for success. You can listen to that episode on October 31st! I will remind you next week– it’s a part of my planning for success. “Reducing Anxiety: My Experiment with Going Offline”.

Do you ever think about how connected you are to… everyone and everything and how far away you are from how you grew up? Pause and think about that for a minute. Remember how you used to ride a bike down the street or walk around without a phone attached to your body, your being? How you had a stretchy phone cord from the phone that was attached to a wall, or how your parents maybe even questioned microwave ovens, and how you waited for the mail in your mailbox!

We are so overly connected that it is frightening to me, and my body feels it. The stress of today’s world short circuits my brain and my DNA I can feel it. I recently went down this rabbit hole on EMFs I am sharing it with you as maybe you’re feeling like me too. Dr. Joel M. Moskowitz, from the University of California, Berkeley, has a great presentation you can watch it here.

Connection is meaningful, don’t get me wrong, and even using technology to connect is valuable, to a point. I mean, I wouldn’t be able to share my meditations and the community with you if I didn’t use technology. (Which reminds me — I will be hosting weekly reflections on Wednesdays at NOON PST in the community you can join here.) My big struggle is watching how I interact with devices, how my mind interacts, how I react, and how I become consumed with information on a device. The dopamine load is not sustainable, which is part of what I feel; it saddens me.”Reducing Anxiety: My Experiment with Going Offline”

I do have good news…during these 30 days, I will be on the podcast, and you can listen to how the experiment is going; I will also be in the community for the meditations and Shelf Indulgence, a new book club that lives in The Now What Society. The first book that we are reading is, Into the Magic Shop: A Neurosurgeon’s Quest to Discover the Mysteries of the Brain and the Secrets of the Heart.

This is one of my favorite books I hope you will join and us in reading it.

After last week a couple of people reached out for hypnosis sessions; it is awesome to be able to support women with this skill set. If you know anyone who might need this sort of support, I would love it if you referred her or him to me. I am offering discounted sessions to those of you who refer! #saveyousomecash Tell your friends or family to tell me your name when they schedule, and I’ll reach out to you to schedule your half-price session!

Over the next few weeks, you will still hear from me, but the emails won’t be my normal mindful meanderings. They will be more science-based yumminess that I tend to indulge in, and I hope you will enjoy “Reducing Anxiety: My Experiment with Going Offline”

This year we have dressed our house with Ghostbuster decorations, and my son turns 13 on Halloween. Have a great Halloween weekend and be safe out there. Oh, there’s an excellent episode on the podcast about how to talk to your kids about drugs and fentanyl; it’s worth a listen. Law enforcement is now finding fentanyl in candy!

Here’s to disconnecting to find a deeper connection.

Big hugs and many mindful moments.

Lane

PS *I am now teaching in public in San Francisco; if you are here, you can join me in person to practice. I have public classes on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then I’m with the police department on Thursdays, you probably don’t want to come to that! LOL. Let me know if you’d like to join, and I will send you the information “Reducing Anxiety: My Experiment with Going Offline”

PSS. If you’re ready to make change happen, you can schedule your hypnosis session here.